This week’s biotechnology news headlines include, new report on industry shows R&D productivity, drug patent protection strains trade talks, GSK will roll out malaria vaccine, stem cell grant to UC Davis, Astrazeneca expands work with Isis pharma, new Opdivo combination, and Pfizer gets EU ok for Hospira buy.

Cell Culture Events

Workshops:

High Performance Tour 2015

Discover how to improve efficiency and productivity for your bioprocessing workflows during our exclusive High Performance Tour.

Learn how the choice of chromatography media (resins), hardware, and services can dramatically affect your process performance.

Register now to reserve your seat at this special event where you can gain insights in improved process efficiency and productivity.

Coming to these Cities:

• San Diego, CA – September 15, 2015
• San Francisco, CA – September 17, 2015

To Register – https://promo.gelifesciences.com/na/K15104/landing.html

Conferences:

September

• Stem Cells Regenerative Medicine Conference – September 2-3, 2015 – Mandarin Oriental, Washington D.C. – http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/stem-cells-and-regenerative-medicine-congress/#stem-cells-and-regenerative-medicine-congress Join 300+ attendees from stem cell, regenerative medicine, cell & Gene Therapy biotechs to discuss the hottest industry topics and make new connections. At this year’s event the regenerative medicine industry is taking it to the next level and discussing how genomics is changing the field – and highlighting the commercialization and manufacturing stories that have helped spur the recent success.Discover the future of the regenerative medicine industry with exclusive content.Co-located with:
• Cord Blood World – September 2-3, 2015 – Mandarin Oriental, Washington D.C. http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/stem-cells-and-regenerative-medicine-congress/C52334.stm

• Cell Therapy Bioprocessing – September 30 – October 2, 2015 – The Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, VA http://www.ibclifesciences.com/CellTherapy/overview.xml

October

• Bioproduction – October 14-15, 2015 – Dublin, Ireland – http://www.informa-ls.com/event/bio-production14Benchmark technological developments and explore best practices in biomanufacturingThe biopharmaceutical industry is making a capital investment of approximately $8 billion in new facilities in Ireland, most of which has come in the last 10 years, representing close to the biggest wave of investment in new biotech facilities anywhere in the world.Join us at BioProduction 2015 in Dublin this October to see why so much is being invested in this area and to network with leading players within this growing industry!BioProduction 2015: Europe’s leading and largest event for a comprehensive update on all aspects of large scale biological manufacturing. Providing insights on the latest technologies, upstream/downstream processing, process analytics, the implementation of continuous manufacturing, facility design, flexibility facilities and single use systems to reduce inefficiencies during the biomanufacturing process.4 Conferences – 1 Exhibition – 1 Congress
  • Conference 1: Continuous Manufacturing
  • Conference 2: Upstream Processing – Production, Development & Analytics
  • Conference 3: Manufacturing Strategy & Technology
  • Conference 4: Downstream Processing

  For more information on the 2015 event please visit the event website at http://www.informa-ls.com/CQ3531BioproductionCellEL

• Bioprocessing International – October 26-29, 2015 Hynes Convention Center Boston, MA http://www.ibclifesciences.com/BPI/overview.xml

November

• Bioproduction Summit 2015 – November 2-3, 2015 – Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront – Burlingame, CA Bioproduction Summit 2015 will focus on quintessential topics in Biotech field, such as technology advances in protein production, Cell culture, Bioprocess Development and Novel protein therapeutics. http://www.bioproductionsummit.com
• World Vaccine Congress – November 3-5, 2015 – Sheraton Brussels Airport Hotel – Brussels, Belgium –  For 15 years the World Vaccine Congress in Europe has been the leading event to talk about scientific advances and find new business opportunities within the vaccine sector and this year is no exception. http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/world-vaccine-congress-europe/index.stm
• FAST: Functional Analysis & Screening Technologies Congress – November 9-11, 2015 – Renaissance Waterfront Hotel – Boston, MA -Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is pleased to announce the Third Annual FAST: Functional Analysis and Screening Technologies Congress. Now in its third year, the FAST Congress brings you the latest technologies and research in cellular screening. – http://www.fastcongress.com/

Headlines

“FDA Pushes Back Decision on Expanded Use of Bristol-Myers Squibb Drug Opdivo,” The Wall Street Journal

“The Food and Drug Administration pushed back the decision date on an expanded use of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. ’s cancer drug Opdivo to Nov. 27, Bristol-Myers said Wednesday.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “New Report Forecasts Sustained Growth in the Pharmaceutical Market through 2020”

“AbbVie to seek approval for potential blockbuster leukemia drug,” Reuters

“AbbVie Inc on Wednesday said its experimental treatment for a form of leukemia associated with a gene mutation met its main goal in a mid-stage trial and that the company would seek U.S. approval of the medicine, which analysts have said has blockbuster sales potential.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cancer Drug Market Continues to Grow and is Fueled by Significant R&D Focus and Clinical Pipeline”

“AstraZeneca to Pay Inovio Up to $700 Million for Cancer Drug,” Bloomberg Business

“AstraZeneca Plc agreed to pay Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. as much as $727.5 million for rights to an experimental cancer vaccine, its third deal in a week to secure access to new tumor-fighting drugs.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “The Evolution of Vaccine Manufacturing – Past, Current, and Future Trends”

“Kite Pharma (KITE) Breaks Ground on New Facility in SoCal That Will Create 200 New Jobs,” BioSpace

“Kite Pharma, Inc. (KITE) broke ground on a 43,500 square-foot facility in El Segundo, Calif. that will be used to support the launch of the company’s lead cancer-treatment drug candidate KTE-C19, which could be available in 2017.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Culturing hPSCs: From MEFs to Naïve State Cells”

“Pfizer, Bristol revive cancer drugs that rev up immune system,” Reuters

“Some of the most heralded new cancer drugs fight the disease by removing brakes on the immune system. Now a few leading drugmakers are paying attention to a second, opposing force: medicines that accelerate the immune system’s attack.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cord Blood-derived HSCs – The Quest to Overcome Limited Cell Numbers”

“Teva’s Just the Start as More Generic Drugmakers Poised to Merge,” Bloomberg Business

“The $40.5 billion merger that’s transforming the generics industry is the biggest yet in a series of deals by drugmakers adjusting to a market that has fewer buyers.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cell Culture Media Optimization: Making the perfect magical potion”

“Emergent BioSolutions plans to separate research, manufacturing businesses in spin-off,” The Baltimore Sun

“Emergent BioSolutions plans to separate its biosciences research and manufacturing businesses, but will maintain its growing Baltimore production facility, company officials said Thursday.

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “3D Printing and 3D Bioprinting – Changing the Healthcare Landscape”